Hana Dinku receives the 2025 Staff Outstanding Service Award

Hana Dinku, director of the Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice, has been awarded the 2025 Staff Outstanding Service Award. 

Macalester Vice President of Administration and Finance Patricia Langer announced the award and read from this citation:

In celebration of the mark you’ve made on the Macalester community, we are proud to recognize you with the 2025 Staff Outstanding Service Award.

In your role as director of the Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice, your work centers radical joy and liberation education. In one nomination letter, a colleague describes you as “fiercely intelligent, creative, caring, compassionate, and tireless in [your] work ethic . . . visionary in [your] ability to see the needs of the community and find creative ways to implement new projects, while also being deeply collaborative.” Your leadership amplifies signature LSC programs, as well as experiential learning opportunities. Since 2021, you’ve worked to expand dialogue training and spaces, and today you host the ongoing Critical Dialogue Series and “When Home is Hard” sessions. As part of your ongoing collaboration with local legal centers, the LSC led two recent community programs with immigration attorneys. You also serve on many campus committees.

You juggle an immense volume of daily logistics alongside an ambitious big-picture vision for the LSC’s vital work. You’ve provided key leadership as the division of Institutional Equity took shape in 2022, and you thoughtfully guided the 2023 transition to the reimagined Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice. You helped revitalize Cultural House programming and are making plans for the Kagin Commons renovation this summer that will expand and transform the LSC’s physical space. You also uplift the power of storytelling and shared history through your work with Macalester alumni of color, building renewed connections and preserving their stories. And amid all of these efforts, you keep a keen focus on your team. As one colleague writes, “I have witnessed Hana develop a work culture that calls us all to do our best work in the spirit of community, justice, and profound relationship.”

Perhaps above all, you are driven by an incredible dedication to students and their growth. As one nominator writes, “Hana pours a tremendous amount of her time, energy, and presence into relationships with students . . . She invites students to wrestle with the complexity of our world and the ways in which we might make it better, and helps create an environment where they can begin to embody the change they want to see.” Last year, you co-taught a course called “We Demand” that examined the history of student activism on college campuses. You create opportunities for connection that foster belonging, centering students with identities that traditionally have been underrepresented in higher education. In addition to advising two student organizations officially—Afrika! and BLAC—and serving as a resource for others, you supervise student staff and meet one-on-one with many students. And colleagues note your wholehearted commitment to growing a network of community care.

Today we honor you for your dedication to equity and justice at Macalester and beyond, and all the ways in which you show up for this community. In the words of one colleague: “Though her accomplishments are many, I know she feels like she is only just scratching the surface of what is possible. I cannot wait to see what else comes from her.”

Congratulations, Hana. We are truly grateful for your outstanding service.